Storytelling Tradition And The Transformation Of Literature In Mid-and Late Tang Periods

This dissertation examines the relationship between storytelling and literary production, particularly, the mutual interaction of the diverse literary forms through storytelling in the Tang dynasty."Storytelling" not only means oral storytelling but also includes performative practice of creation and consumption of such written literature as short story and poetry. Storytelling in Tang period had been developed as a peculiar literary tradition over a long period of time. We need to take a special attention to the storytelling tradition, because it made the mid-and late Tang period literature much more diverse in terms of both form and content. Regardless of literati or popular entertainers, anyone could compose stories that they wanted to tell and choose to hear the stories that they liked. The storytelling tradition in the Tang period was thus a kind of cultural phenomenon that everyone could enjoy, and undoubtedly it exerted a huge influence on the narrative literature at that time.This dissertation consists of five chapters aside from introduction. The introduction analyzes the difference between the term "storytelling"(说故事) and "narrative"(叙事)."Shuo"说is a more literary term than "Xu"叙in the Chinese literary tradition, and furthermore, it can be applied to both oral and written literature. Therefore the term "storytelling"(说故事) is used throughout this dissertation. Then the introduction also explains the purpose and the significance of storytelling in the Tang literature-that is, storytelling, as a cultural phenomenon in the Tang period, provides us with a new perspective to look at the Tang literature.Chapter1demonstrates the reason why storytelling was so prevalent in the mid-and late Tang Period. Generally, the change of literary trends results from both inner and outer factors, and this chapter mainly deals with the outer factors. The development of publishing had allowed the material condition for various stories to be developed into literary forms. In addition, literati in the Tang period encountered a number of popular stories through exiles or journeys to the southern China, and so-called "circulated scrolls"(行卷) transmitted among literati community was an important motive for storytelling. The foreign culture, especially, Buddhism, heavily influenced the content of stories and its way of circulation.Chapter2explores how storytelling tradition brought about variations in the writing style of classical tales by literati. This chapter first demonstrates the interest that the literati showed to the popular stories and the ways in which they enjoyed the stories. No matter what kind of attitude they had toward the popular stories, it is undeniable that the popular stories became an important source of literary works by literati. Then it analyzes the impact of storytelling tradition on the classical tales of literati, and the tension that the literati might have felt between popular storytelling and classical tale tradition in the process of writing. The third section traces the vestiges of popular storytelling that remained in the Tang chuanqi(傅奇)or classical tales.Chapter3investigates the influence of storytelling on the Tang popular narratives, using examples of Dunhuang(敦煌)texts. In order to attract audience or readers, the popular narratives roughly recomposed stories or directly adopted elements of professional performance. The narrator intentionally changed the narrative structure and in effect created a whole different story. These are the examples to show the penetration of storytelling tradition into the popular narratives.Chapter4explores the relationship between storytelling tradition and poetry composition in the mid-and late Tang period. A number of Tang poets was influenced by storytelling tradition and, in particular, Xin yuefu(新乐府)poetry embodied its deep influence. Xin yuefu poets often created poems using the style of storytelling and chuanqi.Chapter5deals with the making and publishing of Dunhuang manuscripts. This chapter shows the ways of circulation and consumption of the storytelling. Considering relatively complete content and fine manufacture, a number of Dunhuang manuscripts seem to have been intended for private reading, and a variety of editions were created attuned for the demands of readers.